What do you enjoy most about your new ‘role’? I mostly enjoy working with teams to strat- egise about their business, whether it’s how to position a destination in the mar- ket or grow a B2B trade event. I also enjoy facilitation and this probably gives me the biggest personal satisfaction as it’s about issues ranging from motivation to conflict resolution, from learning to problem solving.
What are the current challenges impacting the global meetings industry? There are many challenges and we should regard them as business opportunities. The industry is gaining wider political recog- nition as a separate economic sector and increasingly seen as business in its own right rather than part of the tourism business. There remains a divide between many
in the buyer and seller sectors and this mani- fests itself too often. Suppliers and in particular hotels and
venues, focus primarily on the issues of space and rates. If they switched the emphasis to truly understanding the objectives of an event and directly helping the planner to meet these, business retention would undoubtedly rise. Issues such as flexibility, added value,
speed and efficiency and the growing focus on the sustainability agenda are all appearing as major issues.
Is confidence returning to the meetings industry following the recession? The recession, although global, did not significantly impact upon every economy equally and this was reflected in meeting and event demand, but even in the areas of sharpest decline the demand curve is once again upwards. We know the association sector was
more robust than many parts of the corporate sector. I think there are genuine signs that meeting demand is returning at a steady, if not spectacular pace. Even incentives are growing again. How-
ever, I do see a continuing focus on issues of flexibility in the destination selection and generic contracting process. Destinations and venues who are invest-
ing time and energy in truly understanding event and client objectives will continue to grow market share and those suppliers who focus on financial yield management will struggle with issues of client loyalty.
I THINK IT IS VITAL THAT EACH MIDDLE EAST COUNTRY AND EVEN SOME OF THE MAJOR CITIES HAVE A FULLY ESTABLISHED NATIONAL CONVENTION BUREAU
What potential is there to grow the Middle East’s meetings industry? There is much to do in the Gulf. Although there has been really huge investment in the meetings industry and infrastructure, the Gulf is still seen as an expensive option with some areas of the GCC and wider Middle East hav- ing several unhelpful restrictions in place such as visas. I think it is vital that each Middle East country and even some of the major cities have a fully established national convention bureau staffed by at least some meeting and event professionals.
What advice would you give to leaders in the Middle East meetings industry with regard to securing its growth and progress for years to come? Set up convention bureaus; invest in both capital infrastructure and soft infrastructure – those working in the industry and those who could become part of the industry; relax the sometimes unnecessary regula- tory frameworks including visa processes; be less concerned with brash marketing and focus more on live event and face-to-face business development.
If you could name one thing that will revolutionise the meetings industry in the next five to 10 years, what would it be and why? To undertake formal measurement of the aggregate economic impact of our industry – it is worth more than the car industry in America. The results of such a study will shift political opinion dramatically.
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